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The Mails

NEWS FROM HOME.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT. )

There is little to say this month regarding emigration to Otago It is going on in regular course, and quite as many emigrants are coming forward as the agency authorities care to have. The ship Dunedin, which sails to-morrow, will take about 300 emigrants, and the complement of the Auckland, which will follow her, is alao in a fair way to be filled up. With respect to the teachers whom the Joint Home Agents were authorised to send out bi-monthly, it may be mentioned that an advertisement inserted in the principal newspapers, inviting suitable men to come forward as candidates for acholastio situations in Otago, received a considerable number of replies. The applicants wers principally men from twenty- five fay-twenty-seven years of age, and, of course, none of them were remarkably distinguished, which was nothing but what was to be looked for, considering the terms. Nevertheless, some promising candidates have presented themselves, and the pick of them will doubtless soon be on their way out. It is not likely, however, that many more will be Bent out until the receipt of further instructions from the Education Board in Dunedin.

A considerable number of Otagans are roving about the country at present. The other day I fell in with Mr W. Barron, of the late firm of Barron, Grant, and Co , who is "doing" Scotland after a run across India and a considerable portion of Europe. He tells me that at the recent annual show of the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland at Aberdeen, he met some 14 or 15 Otago men, including several well known runholders— e.g., Messrs M 'Master, W. A. Low, and M'Gregor. Mr Barron intends to visit the Philadelphia Exhibition on his way back to Dunedin via San Francisco.

An interesting New Zealand action occupird the attention of the Lords Justices of the Court of Appeal on the Bth instant. It appears - that, in a divisional Court of the Common Pleas division Messrs R. M. Sloman and Co, of Hamburg, a firm of shipowners, brought an action against "the Governor and Government of the Colony of New Zealand," to recover damages for the alleged breach of an emigration agreement entered into on the 14th of May, 1874. The agreement purported to be made between the Queen, for and on behalf of the Colony of New Zealand, of the first part ; Dr Featherston, Agent-General of the Colony, of the second part ; aud Sloman and Co., of the third part. On the 17th ult. the said Divisional Court made an order for substitute , service of the wnt upon Mr John Mackrell, solioitor in this country for the New Zealand Government. Against this order Mr, Mackrell now appealed. For • detailed report of the trial £ must refer you to the Times of 9th August, but here I may note one or two of its main features and its results. Lord Justice James pronounced the proceeding tw be "utterly new and strange." Lord Justice Mellish said that Sloman and Co. never could get paid unless, the New Zealand Assembly found the money ; while, as for the Governor, he could not be sued in the Colony even for a private debt of his own. Lord Justice Baggallay asked how there could be substituted service when there could be no direct service. After consultation together, their Lordships allowed the appeal, with costs. In giving judgment to that effect, Lord Justice James said there was no such entity as the Governor and Government of New Zealand., 1 There was a Governor for the time being, and persons carrying on the Government, but to talk of them as forming a Corporation, as had been contended, was absurd. Lord Justice Mellish at great length expressed similar views, declaring there - could be no action upon tha contracts, and Lord Justice Baggallay, in expressing his concurrence likewise, said the order relating to substituted service never intended that there should be such service in a case where the plaintiff did not know whom he ought to servejftirectly. Messrs Sloman and Co. seert -to be without any legal remedy in the matter, but if there is justice in their claim they will doubtless receive it by applying to your Government or Legislature. If they do not, shipowners will be chary of entering into such contracts in future.

It is stated that a site on the Thames Embankment for the proposed Imperial Museum for India and the Colonies has been generally fixed upon. It is added that "the Governments of several Colonieß, notably New Zealand, Canada, Natal, and the Cape, have warmly endorsed the new scheme, and have suggested that all the Colonial Crown Agency officers should be located in the building. The ship James Nicol Fleming, with the second half of the rails and other plant for the Moegiel and Outram railway on board, passed Deal on August 2nd, and took a final departure from the Lizard five days later. Mr Robert Stewart Eeid, son of the late Mr G. F. Eeid, Dunedin, was among the candidates examined at the July and August sittings of the examiners of the Royal Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons, Edinburgh. Mr Reid tnen passed with honour his first ' professional examination for the double qualification. Mr E. I*. Hingston, known in Dunedin as a theatrical entrepreneur, died lately in London. Few men have had a more diversified career, and few men have turned such a career to less acconnt. Hingston is perhaps beat known by his connection with Artemus Ward and his book — "The Genial Showman " — bat it would be hard to say in what part of the earth he had not been, and what calling he had not followed. The Rev. Mr Bannerman has again been in Edinbugh after a tour through the Highlands, and preached in the Free New North Church (Dr Charles Brown's) on the 6th August. On the 9th he addressed the Commission of the Free Church Assembly on the need of the Presbyterian Church in Otago for ministers, and the prospects it holds out to earnest-minded men. I learn from Mr Bannerman himself that he has not jet obtained the men required, though he has come across some very promising students who have not quite completed their College course, and who have begun to think of .devoting their energies to miristerial work in Otago. He has also dissuaded one or two

persons who were either physically or intellectually unsuited for such work, from going to your Province, which is a ssvice of no mean value. Mr Bannerman is sanguine that his address to the Free Chnrch Commission will bear fruit before long, and he is following it up by spreading information regarding Presbyterianism in Otago in the various parts of the country he visits. Next week he will lecture by invitation at Closeburn, Dumfriesshire, where a good many persons who have friends in Otago have asked him to tell them something about the Province.

While treating of ecclesiastical matters, I may also mention that the Colonial Committee o? the Church of Scotland is advertising for "one or two ministers for pastoral work in New Zealand, as well as young men to act as student missionaries there." The probability, is, however, that these gentlemen are wanted for the northern part of the Colony. Th 9 matter ought to have been brought up at a Commission of the Church held on the same day as the sitting of the Free Church Commission above-mentioned, but as only two or three members put in an appearance, the meeting lapsed for want of a quorum. Reverting for a moment to Mr Bannerman, I may mention that, as a representative of the Scotland of the South, he received the compliment of a place within the barriers at the late unveiling of the Prince Consort Memorial at Edinburgh, by the Queen, and also at the nnveiling of the statue of Dr Livingston, two days previous. If you are not tired of hearing of accusations against New Zealand as a field for employment, permit me to draw attention to a letter on the subject lately published in the Building News. It seems that this paper, on 6th March, 1874, published a paragraph stating that the building trade in New Zealand was in a very bad condition, and that carpenters and others were "glad to work on the roads for 5s a day." To this paragraph Mr David Ross, Dunedin, replied in a letter published in the Building News of 12th March, 1875, and in which he entirely controverted the statements made in the paragraph, so far as Otago was concerned. The writer of the letter now under notice sends extracts from a letter he has received from "an excellent foreman mason, of sterling abilities and worth," whom Mr Ross'b letter caused to omigrate to Dunedin, with his wife and three children. This man, whose name iB John Moffat, says that in Dunedin, " there was no employment of any kind to be had, not even labouring," and thousands foing idle. . . . All the published accounts read at home, including Mr Ross's, to the Building Hqxtb, I found to be false." The fierson who sends the extracts from Moffat's etter to the Building News signs himself II World-Stag," and dates from Liverpool. He speaks of Moffat in extravagant terms of praise, winding np by saying, "I could stake my life on the integrity of his word." Moffat ends his letter by expressing his intention of going to Australia. If he is still in Dunedin when this reaches you, it might be as well if he were made to substantiate his allegations in your columns.

RAILWAYS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM.

The annual statistics of the railways in England and Walei, Scotland, and Ireland have been issued for the year 1875, and are of interest, as showing the present extent and value of this gigantic property. To give even a conciae Bummary of them would exceed the limits of your space, so I give only two short tables. The first table is of a general character, viz. : — Miles olline open 16 658 PMsenfcers conveyed .. .. 506,975,234 Authorised capital 717,775,698 Paid-up capital 63tf,223,494 Receipts from passengers . . . . 25 714 631 Receipts f rose goods .. .. 33 268 072 Working expenditure .. .. 33 i!2O 728 Net receipts 28,'0i6,'272 The second table shows in a concise form how railway pioperty in this country pays. It is as follows :—: —

Ot the capital embarked in completed lines paying no dividend, the proportion in England was 9.2 per cent., in Scotland, 6.3 per cent., and in Ireland, 18 per cent. The proportion of working expenditure to gross receipts, on the railways in the aggregate, was 54 per cent. To the foregoing, I may add that the recent half-yearly meetings of shareholders in many of the principal railway companies have shown bow heavily the commercial and industrial depression has told upon the railway interest. With perhaps the single exception of that of the London and South Western, all the dividends are lower. Even the North-Eastern, with its exceptional resources reduced its dividend £ per cent. The little line connecting Carlisle and Maryport, however, Beems to be still flourishing, having declared a dividend at the rate of 11 p e r cent. A DOCTOR OF DIVINITY'S MENAGERIE. An extraordinary case was tried by Baron Amphlett and a special jury, at Bristol on August sth. The plaintiff was the Rev. E. J. Everard, rector of the parishes of West Littleton and Tormarton, near Badminton, Gloucestershire, and the defendant was the Rey. Dr Horlock. Mr Everard had engaged Dr Horlock — who is lord of the manor of Tormarton — to act as his curate and locum tenens, daring his absence in search of health. Dr Horlock occupied the rectory while Mr Everard was away, and the claim was for between £50 and £60, as compensation for damage done to the house by animals kept by the defendant, as well as £15 for hay consumed. It came out in the evidence that in addition to five horseß in the stables, Dr

Horlock kept in the rectory itself the following collection of animals s — 27 white mice, 3 loose pigeons, a hawk, a dove (both allowed to Ay about the rooms), 9 small birds, a squirrel, three cats, a Skye terrier, five large dogs, three pug dogs, and a monkey. When Mr Everard returned home, he found the dogs and cats, squirrel and monkey had been quartered in the various bedrooms in the house, where they enjoyed the luxuries of carpets and curtains. As might have been expected, the house was in a fearful condition, and the stableS ( were about as bad. In the course of the trial the defendant's counsel assented to a suggestion made by the Judge, accepting a formal verdict for the plaintiff for the amount of damages claimed, subject to reference.

IRISH NOTES.

Dr Samuel Butcher, Protestant Bishop of Meath, in a fit of temporary insanity on July 29th, cut his throat, and died before the deed was known. He was at the time recovering from an attack of bronchitis, and was also suffering from excess of blood in the head. On the date named he rose early, went into his study, and locked the door. After a time, as he did not answer when called to, the door was broken open, and he was found lying dead in a pool of blood on the floor. There was found near him a scrap of paper, bearing on it in the Bishop's handwriting the single word " mad." The theory is that when, by the committal of the sad act, his brain was relieved of the pressure of blood upon it, his sanity returned, and he rallied his expiring strength to state how it was he had come to take his own life. Dr Butcher, who was 64 years old, was appointed to the see of Meath in 1866. He was a man of much ability and learning, having from 1852 to 1866 been Professor of Divinity in Trinity College, Dublin, and his death is greatly regretted by Protestanta of all denomminations in Ireland.

A steady decrease in the tide of emigration from Ireland continues to be exhibited in the returns. During the first six months of the current year the number of emigrants from the island was only 20,604, being a decrease, as compared with the corresponding period of 1875, of 10,491, or at the rate of 50.91 per cent.

The anniversary of the relief of Derry was celebrated in that town on the 12th instant with the customary demonstrations. The procession was larger than usual, numbering some 12,000 persons. After the sermon in thf Cathedral a monster meeting was held, under the presidency of Dr Marcus, Governor of the Apprentice Boys. The Orangemen let off a good deal of steam in explosive speeches, notwithstanding which the day passed over without the occurrence of any breach of the peace. At Dublin, on the 10th inst., Chief Justice Morris made some strong remarks on the aubject of female drunkenness, the close of the Commission of Oyer and Terminer being the occasion on which they were made. His Lordship said that he had thought ten years' experience on the Bench bad accustomed him to the habits of the people,' but the experience of the present Commission had unveiled a phase of modern society which had really startled him. This was the drinking propensities of women, and especially of women in the humbler ranks. It really appeared to him that the women were becoming as bad as the men, and the only persons deriving benefit from the changing customs were the publicans. He only wished that others had the experience which he had gained in that Court House within the past twelve months. Great excitement was cauied in Dublin on the 7th inst. by an accident to Lulu, the trapezist. She was to be shot by machinery some 50ft, into the air to a trapeze, but the apparatus failed to work properly, and ahe fell from the great height to which she had been projected, hef back striking one of the orchestra seats. The ssene in the theatre was one of the wildest excitement, baffling description, and at the time it was believed that Lulu's injuries were fatal. To everyone's astonishment, however, they proved but slight, ana it is stated she will again tempt Providence shortly by essaying a similar feat. Yet the people who flock to auch sights for "amusement" affect to be greatly shocked by the atrocious acts perpetrated by Mahomedan fanaticism !

Lady Day (15th August) was marked in Belfast by serious xiots between the Protestants and Roman Catholics. In spite of the energetic measures taken by the military and police, the disturbances continued at intervals for nearly a week, and resulted in injury to many persons. Complaints are made in Belfast that the Constabulary acted with unnecessary harshness on the occasion, and the charge will probably be investigated. A cheerful scene took place at Dublin on the 21st August, at a banquet by which the Home Rule Convention was wound up. Towards the close a shout of "Spies!" was raised, the reason being that a detective was found to be present. The unfortunate man was set upon by his courageous assailants, and narrrowly escaped being torn to pieces. After being interrogated as to his purpose in being present he was expelled amid a Bhower of tumblerß, one of which struck a delegate from Glasgow, and injured him. A number of the more valiant pursued the detective outside, but slunk back again when they found a force of Police there. Mr Butt, M.P., the Chairman, then made a highly amusing speech. Before to-morrow's sun set, he doclared, he would see the LordLieutenant, and Bee who sent the detective. The Queen and Parliament would alao hear of it soon. If they had a warrant for him, let them arrest him before he left the room. This challenge of an uneasy conscience was received with frantic yells of defiance, after which some degree of order was restored by Major O'Gorman, ut the Chairman's request, singing " The Tight Little Island," to " spite the infamous British Government."

CONTINENTAL JOTTINGS.

Upwards of 20,000 workmen, more or less connected with the iron trade, are reported to be out of work in Berlin.

An International Corn and Seed Market was opened at Vienna on August 21st. It is on a very large scale. A great iron bridge across the Danube at Vienna has just been opened for traffic. It has cOBt three and a-half millions of florins.

The Princess of Servia became a mother for the first time about ten days ago, and the infant received its "baptism of fire" in.

the shape of a salute of 101 guns. The Princess's condition is causing some anxiety, and a second doctor has been summoned from Vienna to attend her.

Gambetta is about to visit England for the purpose of making himself acquainted with the wording of the Income Tax. He will be the guest of Sir Charles Dilke while in London.

The heat in Spain has been terrific, exceediDg anything experienced there within the present century. In Madrid the Deputies of the Cortez were obliged to give up their sittings, being in a fainting condition. The people took to the universal use of huge fans by day, and to sleeping in the balconies of their houses at night. In Seville such numbers of persons slept in the streets that the practice was prohibited by the city authorities. In several of the southern cities the thermometer in shaded rooms stood at from 96deg. to lOldeg. Fahrenheit. The baths and watering places were rushed by all who could afford to avail themselves cf such means of obtaining coolness.

The clerical newspapers at Rome are not unnaturally up in arms on account of a new law by which persons sworn in the Law Courts of Italy are no longer sworn upon the gospels. So unnecessary a giving of sore offence is a great blunder on the part of the Italian Government.

The French Senate has passed a first vote of upwards of £20,000 towards the cost of the Paris Exhibition of 1878. The Exhibition ia intended to eclipse all others, including that of Philadelphia, in the magnitude of its scale, and among its most striking features will be an iron tower 800 ft. high, or 300 ft. higher than the- Great Pyramid, hitherto the loftiest edifice in the world. The tower will be used a lighthouse, and for various scientific experiments.

Sad accounts continue to be published from time to time regarding the mental state of the beautiful ex-Empress Charlotte, of Mexico, who is under medical surveillauce at the Castle of Lacken, in Belgium. It is related that one day recently she escaped the vigilance of her attendants, and wandered a considerable way from the castle. Force being out of the question save as a last resort, it was, after thought, resolved to entice her back by means of her passionate love for flowers. Beauti f ul flowers were obtained and dropped at intervals on the way back to to the castle, and the unhappy lady, absorbed in picking them up, unwittingly wandered back thither. This touching incident is true.

The German papers have announced the death, at Vienna, of a lady named Hulsenstein, who was born in 1757, and consequently was no less than 119 years old when she died. She had been, in her youthful days, a maid of honour to Maria Theresa, of Hungary. An English scientific journal, in noticing the case, says " it ought to be noted as being well authenticated, and not grounded merely on idle rumour."

A school for shepherds has been started at Rambouillet, near Paris, of sheep-breeding fame. The pupils, who are admitted at the age of 15, in the course of a curriculum of two years' duration will be instructed in all the branches of sheep and woolraising.

The ex- Queen Isabella has returned to Spain quietly, and almost without attracting any notice. At her first interview with her son, King AlfonßO, she declared it to be her intention to remain absolutely aloof from politics, saying that her share in public affairs was at an end. On leaving France she wrote a letter to Marshal M'Mahon, thanking the French people through him for the friendliness displayed by them towards her during her eight years' Btay in France, and saying that she will retain her house in Paris, and henceforth divide her time between France and Spam. The Crown Prince of Germany has been specking in praise of Freemasonry, and thereby doubtless adding to the execration with which his house is regarded at the Vatican. In a speech delivered by him at the Hague, on the occasion of the holding of a great Masonic meeting in celebration of the 60 th anniversary of the installation of Prince Frederick of the Netherlands as Grand Mastor of the Dutch Freemasons, be said : — " Nationalities have created frontiers ; Freemasonry desires charity, tolerance, and liberty, without distinction of frontiers. I am happy on this day, which I shall never forget, to be able to raise my voice in Holland to testify my adhesion to the principles of th<s Order, and to express the hope that in the struggle engaged in for the free development of the peoples and the liberty of the human mind, the final victory will remain with the Order." These remarks were received with great enthusiasm.

GENERAL NEWB.

One of the largest docks in the Kingdom is in course of construction at Avonmouth, Bristol, and was to have been opened this week. A few days ago, however, a considerable portion of the north wall fell in, and with it a newly-erected warehouse. The mishap will cause a year's delay and an additional expenditure of £100,000.

A magnificent silver cup, valued at £130, was presented to Mr Plimsoll on August 17th by the workmen employed in a silver plate manufactory in Sheffield. It was made by the workmen themselves. In acknowledging the gift, Mr Plimsoll said he had forwarded a list of 2400 unclassed vessels to Sir Charles Adderley, with a suggestion that his officials should survey and report upon them.

Richard Banner Oakley, the Co operativ9 Bank swindler, has been found giiilty and sentenced to five years' penal servitude — a lenient sentence, considering there were 145 counts against him, and that he had. swindled the public to the extent of £40,000. Many a man has been more severely punished for stealing a watch.

The Hour, a London morning paper of Conservative principles, has suspended publication, after an existence of about three years.

The Duke of Manchester has purchased from the Earl of Bective, for £3000, a bull calf eight weeks old, named " Third Duke of Underly." Some persons might be inclined to ask which of the two Dukes is the greater calf.

The heat in London has been intense for two months past. One cf the papers declares that " London never knew such a summer." As an illustration of it, let me state that a conference of delegates from the South

African Colonies, which was sitting at the Colonial Office a fortnight ago, adjourned for two months, in the hope that by that time the weather would be cooler. Even men accustomed to the heat of the land of lions could not stand the heat of London this »nmmer.

A third branch free library has been opened at Sheffield at a cost of £6000. The cost of the other two was £9000, and the extent to which they were availed of by the public has led to the system being extended. By a majority of one the Town Council of Stratford on-Avon has resolved to discontinue the nightly ringing of the curfew bell— a practice which had been maintained there for hundreds of years. In sentencing a prisoner at the Gloucester Assizes, Mr Justice Grove said that intemperance at its present rate of increase would in time destroy the country itself. The cry about "robbing the poor man of his beer" he pronounced to be "rubbish, as intoxicating drink was totally unnecessary." The lately issued quarterly statistics of the Good Templar body show that the Order in England contains 136,000 subscribing members, being an increase of 11,000 since the annual meeting in April last. Mr Henry Alers Hankey's "co-operative mansions " at Queen Anne's Gate, London, are proving a great success. There is not a vacant room in them, and Mr Hankey is consequently looking around him with a view to extending his fashionable barracks. Lieutenant Cameron has been raised to the rank of Commander in consideration of the valuable services to the cause of science rendered by him in his recent journey of exploration in Africa. The Gazette notice announcing his promotion, adds that it is "special, and in excess of the authorised numbers."

Blackburn is suffering from a small-pox epidemic of such severity that three streets in which the disease is rampant, have been boarded off, with a view to localising it. Blackburn, it should be mentioned, is one of the strongholds of the anti-vaccinationists.

The " Glaciarium," or real ice skatingrink, established a few months ago at Chelsea by Dr Gamgee, has stood the severe test of a hot summer triumphantly. Even on August 13th, when the temperature in the sun was 153 degrees, the fee was kept perfectly solid all day. The freezing agent employed is hydro-sulphurous acid, the cost of which is only a fourth that of ether. By means of this dijoovery, Londoners, with money in their pookets, can enjoy the pleasure of skating on ice with ordinary (not roller) skates all the year round. Similar rinks are being constructed at Manchester and South' port. The alteration of the bore of the 8 1- ton gun has had a salutary effect, so far aa increased velocity and 'energy are concerned. It is now found that the gun can fire a bolt weighing 15cwt. through three feet of solid iron at a range of 1000 yards One of the principal powder magazines at Woolwich Arsenal had a narrow escape from being blown up on August 9th. The dry grass in the adjoining meadows caught fire, and spread towards the magazine with a rapidity that caused a regular panic, as it was known that the quantity of powder and ammunition in the magazine was enonnouß. By diat of great exertion, two fire-engines and a large force of Police being employed, the fire was extinguished without further damage than the burning of five acres of gras3. The annual session of the High Court of the A.O.F. was held this year in Edinburgh, the sittings commencing on the 7th August. It was stated that the membership of the Order now reached half a million.

The 130 th new school built by the London School Board has just been opened by the Chairman, Sir Charles Reed.

THE BULGARIAN ATROCITIES.

The discussion of this topic has been a prominent feature of the month, whether in Parliament, the newspapers, or in private. The most horrible statements have been made vegarding the atrocities perpetrated by the Turks, the principal charges being made by Mr M'Gahan, the special correspondent of the Daily News. When I mention that this person was formerly attached to the New York Herald, I have said more than enough to show with how liberal an allowance of salt his statements must be received. They are also not supported by the reports of the British consular authorities, and are denied by tha Turks and tho special correspondent of the Levant Herald, an English journal published at Constantinople. When" all is said and done, however, there can be no doubl that fearful atrocities have been perpetrated, fully equalling those perpetrated by the'" Christian" Russians in Oircassia 20 years ago. It is impossible not to sympathise with the Bulgarians, who are a peaceful and orderly population — by far the best of the many peoples of Turkey. For those wretched braggarts and liars, the Servians, no one can feel anything but contempt, unless blinded by prejudice or ridiculous and misplaced religious sentiment." They de« serve everything they have got, and a great deal more. As for the Montenegrins, they have been perpetrating atrocities right and left in a manner which shows them to bo apt pupils of the Turks, but although the fact ib so indisputable as not even to be denied, no one raises his voice against it. "All is fair against the Turks" is the evident motto of British sentimentalists. For my own part, while utterly abhorring tho Turkish doings both before and during the war, I do not see that it is right to espouse the cause of equally great villains simply because they are not Turks and Mahometans. No one who looks at the facts with an un« prejudiced eyo can with common honesty and decency become a partisan of either side. Let'tliem fight it out to their hearts' content, and the rest of the world will be the gainers. The old adage about honest folks getting their own when rogues fall out is true— but true only when the honest folks do not side with either of the rogues. Tho wretched whines of the Servians, now they are getting beaten, are directed to the making out of inevitable acts of war to be atrocious cruelties perpetrated upon them because they are "Christians," and there are people ignorant and unthinking enough to be mieled by them. It is to be hoped they will be made to pay smartly for their iniquitous commencement ot an uprovokod war and all the horrors to which that act has: led and may yet lead,